Dark Blue
by mermaidmel16
Summary: If only Tony knew.
1. Colors

The meeting started in five minutes, and Pepper Potts was nowhere to be found.

A group of professionally clad men and women sat around the long mahogany table in the conference room, quietly conversing among themselves and finishing some last minute tasks on their laptops before jumping straight into business. They had all gathered at the office to discuss potential partnerships for Stark Industries' Clean Energy Project. This was one of the company's biggest innovations to date. Stark Industries was officially "breaking away from weapons manufacturing and transitioning into the world of sustainability." Tony put in years of work, planning, and timing towards this project before handing the CEO position over to Pepper almost a year ago, during its infancy.

This was one of the few meetings Tony would attend for the entire year. Pepper had been leading and attending conferences for years prior to being appointed CEO, as Tony knew she could handle everything on her own and keep the company running without him. It was only appropriate for him to show up today, though. It was agreed upon that the company's directional shift would be making headlines, and it would leave a good impression for the man who carries the Stark Industries name to show some type of involvement in the announcement.

But what good does it do if the owner of the company was there, but not the CEO?

Tony walked into the conference room of unfamiliar faces, but very familiar names. Stark Industries had conducted business in the past with almost every person in there, but never face to face. That is how business works. Everyone in the room knew who Tony Stark was though, without having to think twice. There was a chorus of hellos and greetings as Tony took a seat at the end of the table, unbuttoning his suit jacket. It took him a second to realize that Pepper wasn't there, and he was quick to send her a text.

 ** _Where are you?_**

It's unlike Miss Potts to not show up to a meeting on time, or even at all. Pepper is one of the most reliable people in the company, which earned her the title and position of CEO. She's always had the best interest of not only the company but Tony as well. With the number of messes she's managed to pull him out of in the past couple of years, he was forever indebted to her. But her absence today was without warning, and Tony's reputation was riding on the coattails of her showing up. She had never done something like this before, and this was the one meeting she did not need to miss.

The whispered chatters around the room faded out as everyone began their preparations for the meeting. With still no reply from Pepper, Tony had a few seconds to decide whether he wanted to wing this entire thing himself or dismiss everyone and have Pepper reschedule this for a later day this week. Tony knew the latter option could cost the company some of the best business partnerships they could've ever had. Stark Industries prides itself on utmost professionalism, and rescheduling a meeting is not how Mr. Stark runs his company.

Tony stood up from the table, the attention shifting immediately on him. He has never been familiar with stage fright; he's always possessed strong verbal skills and knew how to put on quite the show, even when being stood up by his right-hand business partner.

"Good morning, everyone," he smiled. "Thank you all for your time in being here. I just want to take a brief second before we begin to apologize on behalf of my CEO, Miss Pepper Potts." "He still didn't know just what lie he was going to use to cover up, but he didn't have much time to sort out the details. "It... appears she had a family emergency come up and is, unfortunately, unable to be here with us today. But with that being said, let's start our meeting."

Tony stepped over to the front of the room, grabbing the clicker off the table and starting the presentation. With the lights off he quietly backed himself in the corner of the room to discreetly check his phone. He still hadn't gotten a response to his text message, and he was starting to think Pepper's absence was something more serious than forgetfulness or a random bout of unforeseen sabotage. As much as he wanted to sneak out and check her office, the video was about to end and he had an important meeting to run. On quick thinking, he texted Happy instead.

 ** _Have you seen Pepper today? She missed the meeting._**

Tony emerged from the corner, a cheeky grin plastered on his face as the lights flickered back on. "As we've just seen in the video, all of you here are the lucky prospects who get to take a first glance at Stark Industries' newest movement. We're projecting ourselves into the future of clean energy production and sustainability. If you'd be so kind, please click the link that should've popped on all of your screens. Now comes the good part: technicals, and what this means for you all." Tony smiled at his audience and his back pocket began to vibrate. He waited until everyone was focused on their laptops to check his phone, trying his hardest not to come off as rude or unprofessional.

It was Pepper.

 ** _I'm so sorry I missed the meeting. Something came up. We'll talk later._**

It was short and explained nothing. Tony let out a small sigh of relief in knowing that she was at least alive, but there was a sudden annoyance that came over him from being simply told that "something came up." To Tony, there was never a good enough excuse for putting him and his company's reputation on the line, especially during one of their most important meetings to date. This behavior was unacceptable from any employee, starting from the CEO down to the janitors, but he was confident Pepper had a valid excuse for pulling a move on him like this at the worst possible time. Tony's biggest concern at this point wasn't about Pepper not showing up to the meeting, but making it run smoothly without her.

Tony called for a break after an hour to give himself an excuse to run down to the lobby and talk to Happy. If there was anything she had done right for this meeting as of yet, it was ordering catering from the local bakery. It gave him enough time to step away while the others chowed down on pastries and coffee while discussing the project details.

Tony mashed the elevator button repeatedly, looking down at his watch as he mentally calculated exactly how much time he had left before he needed to come back, up to the very second. He was thoroughly convinced that the meeting was already going catastrophically but also forgets to remind himself that he is his own harshest critic. The elevator doors opened and he ran across the lobby, catching Happy by surprise.

"Jesus Christ, Stark! You want to give a man a heart attack?!" Happy leaned back in his chair, clutching his chest as he momentarily caught his breath. He was lost in his own headspace, watching videos of puppies being trained into becoming service dogs on his computer.

Tony leaned over the counter, regaining his composure. "Did you get my text?"

"Did you get my reply?"

Tony pulled out his phone from his back pocket. "No, I was in the meet- emOh./em Didn't read that."

Happy chuckled to himself. "Yeah, like I said. She came in this morning around eight, and that's the last I've seen of her. She definitely hasn't left."

"Are you sure about that? 'Cause I doubt you'd be aware of anyone coming in or out if you're watching puppy videos." Tony pointed at the screen.

"I need something to get me through the day, Stark."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Listen, I only have a couple of minutes before I need to go entertain these clowns upstairs again for another hour- Can you pull up cam footage from before the meeting and see where she went? Just check the thirty-second floor, I doubt she even went down to the conference room."

Happy spun around in his chair, quickly typing away as various windows playing different videos simultaneously flashed all around the screen. "She stepped into her office around seven past eight, and she hasn't stepped out since."

Tony's eyebrows furrowed together. There was something unusual going on, but Tony appeared to be completely oblivious. He tried to remember the last time he spoke to her... Last night she came home late from working at the office because she was putting together some last minute preparations for the meeting today. They engaged in some small talk, but everything appeared to be fine.

So why didn't she show up?

"I gotta go, but if you see her, just tell her to call me. I'll be dealing with the press after the meeting."

"Okay, Boss," Happy called out as Tony sprinted back across the lobby and ran into the elevator.

The rest of the meeting went much smoother than expected. Tony left with many more partnerships than anticipated, after fully convincing himself that the Clean Energy Project was over before it even started. It wasn't long after the meeting was over that the first wave of media flooded the lobby downstairs, and Happy and the rest of the security team were on crowd control.

"Everyone, calm down, Mr. Stark and Miss Potts will be down here soon to conduct all scheduled interviews and answer all your questions." Happy looked over at his security partner. "Hey, can you page Tony and see if he's done with the meeting already before these people stampede us?"

Before his partner made it over to the desk phone, the elevator doors opened. The one and only Mr. Stark stepped out, causing the frantic journalists and cameramen in the lobby to practically run Happy to the ground. "It's okay, everyone," smiled Tony. "I'm here now. Let's take this outside."

After putting on a fake smile for the press and dodging the much-asked question of "where Miss Pepper Potts is," Tony met Happy back in the lobby. He knew Pepper not showing up was going to garner more media attention than they could've asked for, and now he had a separate mess to deal with. The media loves a good scandal, and the people will be more interested in knowing whether one of the country's wealthiest business owners and his girlfriend/CEO are still together. They'll wonder what that means for the company itself, instead of clean energy initiatives. Tony added that to the long mental list of things he still needed to worry about. His biggest concern right now was investigating why Pepper was hiding from today's meeting.

"Why the hell would Pepper stand up the meeting today?" He said to himself, walking back into the lobby.

Happy overheard the one-sided comment and piped in. "Is she sick? Did she say anything to you before?"

Tony shrugged. "No, or at least I don't think so. She didn't say anything to me, so whatever it is, it's something I don't know about." Tony walked to the elevator, giving the button a hard press. "I'm gonna go figure out what's going on."

Happy could feel Tony's energy from across the lobby. He was not a happy camper. Happy, of all people, knew the temper Tony had at times, and how it sometimes got the best of him.

"Hey Tony, just stay cool, okay?"

Without saying a word, Tony stepped into the elevator.

Tony managed to build up enough anger during the elevator ride up to make his blood pressure skyrocket. He was hot to the touch and his face was hot-rod red. He had grown accustomed to feelings of betrayal, as he's had many people come in and out of his life who have let him down before, but he never expected this from Pepper. He appointed her CEO of the company just because he knew she was the only person he could ever trust. Or so he thought... He had feelings of anger, hurt, and frustration brewing inside of him, and he didn't know which one was going to confront her with first.

He arrived on the thirty-second floor and immediately bolted down the hallway. It was quiet except for the sound of angry footsteps. Straight down the hall were the mahogany double doors that led into the Office of the CEO. Tony was steps away from bolting in just before he stopped himself in his tracks. Something told him he needed to be cautious about his approach. This wasn't the time to let his emotions get the best of him. He needed to be rational and careful with his words and his actions. Unfortunately though, for someone who's managed to fully convince himself that he doesn't have a heart, he seems to act more impulsively on emotion than reasoning.

He knocked on the door, which sounded almost like a pounding.

"You know why I'm here, Pepper."

Silence.

Another hard knock. "Pepper. This needs to be discussed. Put whatever feelings aside that you have and talk to me as your boss."

Silence.

"Listen, I'm not going to sit outside of your office all day until you choose to talk to me. You've already made enough of a mess earlier today by standing me up at the meeting, and now the press is about to have a field day making up rumors as to why you weren't down there for the interviews."

He waited a few seconds for an answer before letting out a strong exhale. "Alright, when you feel up to acting like a professional and telling me what's going on with you, come see me at the lab."

Tony stormed back down the hall, catching up to a Human Resources Rep who was also taking the elevator. Just as the doors closed, Pepper slowly poked her head out of her office, revealing her tear-stained face and how her once-bright green eyes were now red and swollen.

If only Tony knew.


	2. Chapter Two

The door to the lab slammed shut, startling Dr. Banner.

The beaker in his hand dropped onto the metal table with a clink, and from over his glasses, he could see Tony storming across the lab. Bruce could tell he was angry. He was always the first one to notice anyone's emotions, especially anger. However, at times, it made it almost impossible to keep 'the other guy' from making an inappropriate guest appearance. Bruce knew Tony's temper was just as bad as his was, except he didn't have a raging green monster to fight, like himself. In an ironic twist, it was Bruce's turn to keep Tony calm.

AC/DC's Back in Black suddenly roared throughout the lab, and Bruce began to wonder if Tony even knew he was here. Bruce quietly pulled the screen over to document the results of his latest experiments. Bruce had been helping Tony for the past few months with his Clean Energy Project by researching how palladium-based carbon nanostructures is used for clean, sustainable energy production. It's not in his field of expertise, but given that the Avengers are on a temporary, government-issued hiatus following the new 'Superhero Registration Act', it gave Bruce something to do and it kept him close to the Avengers Facility, should he be needed ag

Tony hastily undid his tie, flinging it over his desk chair along with his suit jacket. Practically ripping the buttons off the cuffs of his shirt, he rolled his sleeves up and grabbed the first thing he could find that he could get his hands on. Tinkering was something Tony did when he was upset. Half of the suits he had on display down in the lab stemmed from long, sleepless nights when his emotions got the best of him, and the only way he knew how to process everything was to build.

The music suddenly cut off. "Sir, you have an incoming call from Director Nick Fury."

Tony snapped at JARVIS for interrupting his music. "No calls for the rest of the day."

"As you wish, sir."

Bruce knew this wasn't a good time to step in and ask Tony what was wrong, but he felt he should at least make his presence known. The music began to blare once again, and Bruce quietly continued running his experiments. A couple of minutes went by before the music stopped again. Bruce could hear Tony groaning from across the lab.

"Sir, my sincerest apologies for disturbing you against your request, but you have an incoming call from the Avengers Facility."

"Yeah, go ahead, JARVIS," said Tony.

"Hey Stark, it's Rogers," answered Steve. "Where are you?"

"Lab," said Tony.

"Are you coming to the briefing today?"

"Yup." Tony was being short, and Steve was taking notice.

"Alright, uh... Just making sure... You doing okay?"

"Yup. Listen, I'll talk to you later."

Before Steve could get another word in, Tony hung up. He took off the gauntlet he was working on and threw it on the couch next to him. Bruce took this opportunity to go talk to him. He quietly walked to the couch and picked up the metal gauntlet, resting it down gently on the floor.

"Did you know I was here?" he smiled, sheepishly.

Tony looked over. "Yeah, I heard you earlier when you dropped the beaker. Hope you didn't break it, that cost me thirty cents."

Bruce chuckled. "Yes, a whole thirty cents we know you can't afford."

The two of them shared a short laugh before the nuclear physicist broke the ice.

"So, what's going on? How'd the meeting go?"

Tony rubbed his face and sighed. He kept hoping that his entire morning was a bad dream that he would eventually wake up from and laugh about.

"Pepper stood me up at the meeting today," he said.

Bruce's eyebrows knitted together as he took off his glasses and rested them on his thick, salt and pepper curls. It took a second for that entire sentence to register.

"What do you mean she stood you up?"

"I mean she stood me up, Bruce. She didn't show up."

This took Dr. Banner by surprise. He knew this was something she wouldn't do intentionally. Pepper was one of the only people who could easily separate business from pleasure. Regardless of what she and Tony were going through, she would always pull through for him and the company. The more Bruce gave it some thought, the more he didn't think her skipping out on a meeting that she and Tony worked so hard to put together for months had anything to do with revenge.

"Do you know why? Did something happen?" asked Bruce, adjusting the band on his watch.

Tony sank down into the couch, putting his feet up on the glass coffee table. "I don't know. She texted me thirty minutes into the meeting to tell me something came up and that she wasn't going to be able to make it... Thirty minutes into the meeting, Banner. How is that even remotely acceptable?"

Banner sighed. He understood where Tony was coming from and agreed that he had every right to be upset, but something told him that there was more to this story.

"Well, have you talked to her since she texted you?" He leaned back on the couch.

Tony grabbed the TV remote, clicking through the channels. His eyes never left the screen.

"Nope. I went up to her office to go talk to her and she didn't even open the door."

Bruce played Devil's Advocate and pushed the subject further.

"How do you know she was even in the office? Maybe she stepped out-"

"I had Happy pull-up security footage. She came in at eight this morning and never once left."

"I don't know," hesitated Bruce. "Something doesn't seem right to me, Tony. I would just calm down and approach her again later."

Tony chuckled at Bruce's comment. "Calm down," he mocked. "Easier said than done, right Brucey?"

Tony looked over at the nuclear physicist, who forced a laugh. Bruce was always the butt of the anger management jokes tossed around the Avengers Team. He wanted to spit back something sarcastic, but he knew this wasn't the time. With Tony's temper already breaking glass ceilings, the two of them going back and forth would result in chaos.

Bruce excused himself from the couch, returning to his experiments in the back of the lab. It was quiet except for the low mumbling from the TV and the occasional beeps and notifications the computers. Bruce toyed with the idea of calling Pepper and asking about her absence in the meeting today. He didn't think this had anything to do with Tony personally unless they were having new problems that Bruce didn't know about. The last Banner had heard about Tony and Pepper's relationship was that she was giving him one more chance. While Bruce was hiding in the mountains of Fiji following the battle in Sokovia, Pepper and Tony had supposedly called it quits. No one except for the Avengers team knew, and SHIELD Director Nick Fury advised them that they keep talking about their personal business to a minimum. The Avengers was already in the media hot seat, and adding announcing a break-up would only make matters worse for Tony, who was the last person on the team who needed to add any more to his public agenda.

By the time Bruce had returned from his extended vacation six months later, the two had rekindled their relationship. Promises were broken and lies were said, but it appeared they could only be apart from each other for so long. They had everyone convinced that things were back to normal, and that the Avengers power-couple was ready to take on the world. Still, Bruce wasn't convinced that Pepper bailing on Tony at today's meeting had anything to do with their on-again, off-again romance. The thought of calling her crept in again, but Bruce shook it off and continued his work. Tony was his best friend, and if anything were to happen, he would find out eventually.

Bruce's phone started ringing, and he was quick to answer when he saw that it was Steve.

"Hey, how's it going, Captain?" He smiled.

"Banner, what are you doing?"

"I'm in the lab at the tower working on some tests." Bruce gently set down the beakers on the metal table. "What's going on?"

"I'd explain it to you, but I think it'd be better if you saw it for yourself. Go put on CNN."

Bruce glanced over and saw that Tony was still sitting on the couch.

"Hey Tony, can you switch to CNN real quick? I wanna see something."

Tony quietly obliged, and Banner suddenly realized that he made a terrible mistake.


	3. Chapter Three

The headline read, ' _Stark Industries' CEO gone MIA: What happened?'_

Four reporters were bickering at one another, arguing over which rumor seemed to be the most believable. One of them thought that this was Pepper's way of publicly breaking up with Tony to humiliate him. Another one said that she was probably stepping down as CEO, so she no longer had to assume the responsibility of the company. Every news media outlet in New York had something to say about the infamous missing CEO, Pepper Potts.

Director Nick Fury and agent Maria Hill were watching the media mess from a conference room at the Avengers' Facility. Both of them were quiet. Everyone at SHIELD was talking about it, and at this point, so was everyone else in the lower Manhattan area. Fury sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well, what's your take on it?" said Maria, folding her arms across her chest.

"I _told_ Stark to keep a low profile, given that we've already got the media on our tails over this SRA crap, and he turns around and causes a national outcry."

Maria smirked. "Leave it up to Tony Stark to have the attention turn on him in some way."

The two of them turned their attention back to the news, where the bickering continued. They commented to each other their thoughts on the subject and even put in bids of which rumors they thought were possibly true.

Steve stepped into the room during the commercial break, interrupting a conversation between the agent and the Director.

"Sorry to barge in- You guys are watching too?" He pointed at the TV. "I was just keeping up in the downstairs conference room."

Steve pulled up a chair next to Director Fury.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you Captain?" Nick began to interrogate the Avenger, who grew slightly uncomfortable in his chair.

"Absolutely not," he defended. "I haven't spoken to Stark since earlier today that he hung the phone up on me. This is all news to me, too."

"He didn't answer the phone when I called him," scoffed Nick.

"I called him from the facility phone. I knew he wouldn't answer if it was me."

Steve and Tony never had a great relationship. Tony always felt that Steve was the goody-two-shoes that his father constantly idolized and obsessed over, and there was always a twinge of jealousy underneath. Tony never understood what made him so special, always attributing his greatness from being his dad's 'lab experiment'. Deep down, Tony secretly despised Steve, blaming him from stealing the attention away from his father that he should've gotten, being his only son. The two always managed to crawl under each other's skin, but there was a mutual understanding they were going to have to at least respect each other in some way if they were going to work together on the same team. But they never talked much, and if there was anything going on Tony's life, Steve would be the last one on the team to know. The most Steve ever heard about Tony is from what Pepper would tell him, which made Steve know more than Tony thought.

* * *

He hesitated before knocking.

It's been three hours since the meeting, and Tony still hasn't heard from Pepper. The few people he talked to on the way up to her office said they haven't seen or heard from her all day, but they definitely heard what's been said on the news. Tony made sure to inform everyone that the rumors weren't true, and they weren't to speak to the press or say any comments until he spoke to Pepper and gave the final word. The ride up was tense and Tony wondered if the elevators could move any slower. He promised himself he wouldn't react when he got there, and they would talk this out like two, adult professionals. But that was if Pepper even opened the door at all.

"Pepper?" He knocked. "Do you have a minute?"

There was a brief silence before the door finally opened.

She looked well composed. Her strawberry locks were tied into a ponytail and her bangs neatly framed her face. She smiled, a smile Tony instantly knew was forced.

"You're alive," he joked sarcastically. She didn't seem to find the humor.

She quietly walked back to her desk, taking a seat. Tony sat down in front of her.

"So, what happened?" He asked, sternly. The tension in the air quickly rose.

Pepper grew defensive. She had always had a sharp tongue, but never with Tony. In the handful of fights they had been having in the recent year, both always managed to draw a line of respect between each other, and save their quick wits.

"You read my text," she said, looking down at her hands as she twirled the ring on her thumb.

"Yeah, I read your text, Pepper. It really was quite insightful- Which by the way, thank you for the courtesy of letting me know you weren't going to make it to the meeting thirty minutes after it started."

Pepper stayed quiet for a moment, before jabbing back at Tony.

"I had something come up, Tony, I don't know what more you want me to tell you-"

Tony quickly stood up. "Pepper, what could've possibly been more important than this meeting?! You know we've been planning this for months already and out of every other meeting you could've skipped, this is the one you chose?!"

The two of them could be heard yelling at each other from outside the office. It was a quiet floor with not much commute, which was convenient in situations like this, but this was not the place for them to fix their problems, and both were well aware of that.

"Tony, this is not the place or the time for us to be having this conversation right now."

Pepper and Tony were both standing now, on either sides of the desk.

"No Pepper, this _is_ the time for us to talk about this, because now, _I'm_ the one who's company is getting trashed all over the media because you couldn't bother to show up!"

Pepper rolled her eyes and scoffed. "And are you forgetting who's the one who saves you every time these media stints happen?!"

Pepper felt her palms get sweaty and her hands we're shaking. Her racing heartbeat was the loudest sound in the room, beating faster and faster with passing every second. Her face went suddenly pale, and she was growing flustered. Tony continued rambling, unaware of the fact that Pepper was unravelling. Of course, he wouldn't have known, because he was lost in his own argument, and she looked perfectly fine on the outside. But on the inside she was going crazy, and her world was falling apart for the second time since yesterday.

"You've never let me down before, Pepper, and you promised me when you took the CEO position that you would separate business and pleasure. But ever since we got back together, it hasn't been the same. I know that I can trust you, but now you've got all of us in this hole that I don't even know how you're going to get us out of!"

"Tony, just go!" She cried out, turning around to face out the window as she tried to shake out her clammy palms.

"We're not done talking about this, Pepper-"

"Just _go!"_ She snapped, tears running down her cheeks.

Tony stormed out, slamming the door behind him, making Pepper jump. She didn't know if she felt like she was having a heart attack or if she was dying. The walls felt as if they were closing in, and her spacious office was now a claustrophobic nightmare. Her uncontrollable anxiety had her convinced she was losing her mind, but she wasn't. She was fine. Everything was fine.

Or at least that's what she had been forcing herself to believe since eight o'clock yesterday.


End file.
